Powdered limestone spreader and the like



Feb- 2`, il945- c. L.. RossELoT POWDERED LIME STONE SPREADER AND THELIKE Filed May 17, 1941 INVENTOR. C'L/Frpffa L. josslnaz:

BY n. f

maw

ATTO RN EYS.

Patented Feb. 20, 1945 oFFics 7 rowoaaan Lnvms'rom: sPRaAna-n AND 'maLIKE i Cliiord L. ltosselot9 Owensville, Ohio I Application May 17,1941, Serial No. 393,879 1 claim. (cigars-2) My invention relates toagricultural machinery for the purpose of spreading lime stone or otherpulverant lmaterial on land by means of a motor vehicle.

There have been various structures suggested for this above purpose, butso far as I am ad' vised these do not provide for adequate distributionwith regularity and over a wide range irrespective of wind disturbance.The usual plan in a lime spreader is to cause the pulverized lime stoneto fall upon a whirling disk which fans it out into the air behind thespreader. The iniiuence of drafts of air upon the distribution of thepowder upon the land is obvious.

According to my invention I provide for a lateral distribution devicewhich positively ejects small streams of the powdered material over afairly wide band, transverse the vehicle. Such a means of distribution,as shown, consists of sci-sw conveyors operating in perforated tubesthrough the perforations of which the powder falls. As a means fordistributing material the particular device does not possess novelty ofitself. but the width required for the band of powder for economicaloperation is such that the device should be wider than the vehicleitself by a considerable margin. As a resultit is necessary to providefor a suitable mounting for the lateral distributor, such that it can bereadily lifted away from the vehicle and replaced thereon, as whenpassing through gates. between trees etc. duringl operation.

It is my object to provide an effective drive for moving pulverantmaterial from a container therefor, such as a truck body, to the pointfor 2' distribution, to provide a simple and effective truck body,conveyor and drive therefor, to pro-v vide a relatively light weightlateral distributor extending beyond the lateral margins of the vehicleor truck body, and for an economical and' effective drive for the same,coupled to the drive for the truck body screw, the whole lateraldistributor being readily removable bodily from its position when in useand readily replaceable.r

VI have described a structure in detail which embodies the features ofmy invention and for the novelty inherent therein I refer to theappended claim, forming part of my specification.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a plan view showing a preferred arrangementof my spreader. y

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the rear end of thespreader.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional vview taken along line 3-3of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section taken along l line 4 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view with parts broken away taken along line5--5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section taken along line t--t of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view taken at the left end of Figure 5,and

Figure 8 is asectional view'illustrating an alternate drive arrangementbetween the conveyor screws. 4

.Referring to Figure l, I have illustrated a truck chassis 2 having anengine 3 and the usual transmission d with torque tube 5 enclosing adrive shaft for supplying motive power to the rear wheels of the truckor vehicle.

The transmission d is of a type commonly emplayed in trucks and has apower take-off shaft S from which shaft the power developed by engine 3may be utilized for performing work other than that of driving thevehicle.

Il' a tractor is used for the driving device, then the frame 2 of thevehicle would terminate in a fth wheelor vdrag link and the power besupplied to the apparatus from ythe power take-on of the tractor.

As shown in the drawing, i employ the shaft t for driving a conveyorscrew or worm l which worm is located at the bottom of. a V-shapeclhopper or material container t.

The worm l is provided at its front end with a suitable thrust lbearingQ andis driven from shaft t through universal or knuckle joints lo andil, rod l2, and a selective speed transmission i3.

The shaft E rotates at a speed proportionate to that of the engine 3 andhence' to the lineal movement of the vehicle, so that the transmissioni3 permits a constant amount of material to be distributed per acreregardless of the vehicle speed. To avoid too much packing of materialabout the screw l during transportation to the field to be limed orfertilized, a plate la. may be placed over the screw when loading andlifted away when distribution is started.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the side walls l5 and l5 of the hopper 8terminate at their lower edges in an angle bar i6 in which bar or valleythe worm rotates to convey the material rearward. The angle bar I6extends beyond the rear wa11 of hopper 3 as at ita in Figure 2 where thebar is cut away as at il to permit material carried rearward by worm lto drop downward and be finally distributed, as will be presently deatI8 in the various ngures.

For covering the extended portion lla or the angle bar il, I employ ashort length of like material Il, the members being welded together attheir meeting edges 2l and 2| to enclose the rearportionofworml.Asseeninlilgurea flange member 22 is welded at the rear terminus ofmembers II and Il and to this flange is bolted a bearing member 22 whichprovides a support for the rear end of worm 1. The bearing 23 will, ofcourse, be provided with a suitable dust seal or the like indicated at24.

As seen in Figure the material emerging through the opening I1 fallsthrough a short down chute 2l having at its lower end a dividing plate2i which separates the downward stream of material into two parts asindicated. The two streams of material, thus separated, fall into smallreceivers or hoppers 21 and 28 from which hoppers the material iscarried outwardly by the conveyor screws or worms 29 and 20respectively. The worms 2l and Il are housed in tubes 3| and 32 whichtubes are perforated at suitable intervals as at 33 to permit finaldispersement of the material. The size of the outlet holes 33 can becontrolled by a slide 22a-similar to an ordi nary damper plate, held byscrews passing through slots, into the tubes.

The worms 29 and 20 may be driven at a speed proportionate to that ofthe worm 1 in various ways but I prefer the arrangement shown in detailin Figures 3 and 5. As here shown the inner ends of the said worms and30 consist of flattened or squared shaft portions 24 which are engagedvby similar shaped recesses or sockets in either end of an interveningshaft 2l. 'I'he squared ends 34 of the conveyor worms are re-y movablefrom the sockets, but it will be apparent that end thrust due to pushingmaterial outward will retain the said ends in said sockets. The wormsmay be removed for replacement or cleaning by removing the end straps l2and pulling outward on the worms. Shaft 35 is suitably Journaled in aVhousing 34 and has a ring gear 31 keyed or otherwise secured to it.Suitable dust seals l! are, of course, provided to protect the iournaledbearings.

As seen in Figure 3 the housing 35 also provides bearing for a yshaft 38having on its inner end s. pinion gear 4I which meshes with and drivesthe ring gear 21 to rotate the worms 29 and III. Onits outer end theshaft I9 has a pulley 4i driven by belt 42 running over the pulley 42flxed on the extended outer end of worm 1.

The cross conveyor assembly I l is detachably supported by a pair ofbrackets 44 and 45 which brackets are fixed where convenient to a crossmember or other extended portion 4l of the chassis 2. Asseen inFlgure 6,the brackets 44 and 45 have U-shaped lower ends or cradles 41 in whichthe tubular members of the conveyor rest. Referring again to Figure 3,the assembly i8 is retained in the brackets by a rod 48 having acompression spring 4l ilxed to and extending from its lower end. Thespring 4I, tending to urge the conveyor assembly' in a coimter-clock- 48is retained by a similar cup member 5I iixed v brackets.

to the down chute 2l.

It will be apparent that the pulleys 4i and 43 and belt 42 may beremoved and supplanted with sprockets and a chain thus providing apositive drive for the cross conveyors.

By pressing downward ou the rod 48 against compression of spring 49until the upper end of the rod is free from cup 5I the operator mayremove the rod from its retaining position. With removal of the belt 42the entire cross conveyor assembly IB may then be lifted from thecradles 41, thus permitting ready passage through gates or between otherobstacles such as trees, posts or the like.

In Figure 8 I have shown an alternate drive means for the conveyorassembly I8 which drive also permits ready removal of the assembly. As

here shown the worm 1 has at its outer end a bevel gear 53 drivingpinion 54 both of which are contained in a housing 55. The pinion 54,through a coupling means to be immediately described, is integrallyrotative with a lower bevel gear 56 which drives pinion 51 to producerotation of the conveyor screws through pinion 40 and ring gear 21.

The pinion 54 is mounted on a short journaled shaft 58 and is connectedto shaft 55 by a universal joint 80. Bevel gear 51 is likewise connectedto a short journaled shaft 6I which is connected to shaft 82 byuniversal joint B3. Shaft 59 has slidably mounted thereon a nut orthreaded sleeve 84 which is retained on said shaft by the lowershouldered portion B5 thereof. The nut 64 engages threads 88 on theupper end of shaft 62 to retain the shafts 62 and 59 in alignment. Theupper end of shaft 62 also has a tongue B1 which engages a groove in theshouldered portion l5 of shaft 59 thus providing positive drive betweenthe said coupled shafts.

It will be apparent that by unscrewing the nut B4 the shafts 5l and I2will become uncoupled, thus permitting ready removal of the crossconveyor assembly i8.

Having thus described my invention, what claim as new and patentable is:

In combination with a vehicle, a powder distributing member locatedtransversely of the vehicle and extending beyond the sides of thevehicle, said distributing member comprising casing means having eilluxopenings therein, a worm feed in said casing means, a hopper means forsaid casing means, and means for quickly detachably mounting the casingmeans on the vehicle, and a quick detachable drive from the vehicle tothe worm feed, said mounting means comprising brackets on the vehicle inwhich the casing means rests by gravity, and latch means to hold thecasings against jan'ing out of the CLIFFORD L. ROSSELOT.

